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» » Extreme Close-Up (1973)

Short summary

While doing a story on the intrusion of surreptitious surveillance in peoples' private lives, a television reporter rents some surveillance equipment to get a feel for what it's like to spy on people. When he finishes his report, he returns to the equipment rental store to discover that he was too late and the store is closed, so he'll have to keep the equipment for another day. As a lark he sets up the equipment to "spy" on the residents of a nearby building, but soon finds himself caught up in the dark world of voyeurism, begins to descend further and further into that world and realizes that it is becoming a disturbing obsession with him.

Italian censorship visa # 65490 delivered on 7 November 1974.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Mikale
    A television reporter, doing a series on privacy, uses some rented surveillance equipment as part of his report. When he tries to return the equipment, the shop is closed for the day. As a lark, he spies on the tenants in a neighboring apartment building.

    What starts as a lark becomes a fascination, and then an obsession. His new hobby takes enough of his time to be noticed by his work partner, and he obtains and uses more equipment, adding directional microphones, more sophisticated telescopes, and finally infrared equipment. His targets become more involved as well - from looking into nearby windows, he progresses to following an attractive nurse home to watch her, then a celebrity, a security-minded challenge, leading to his own wife.

    Dialogue sparse enough to cripple another movie doesn't really become a lack in this psychological study of a man becoming obsessed with voyeurism.

    Rated R in the USA, this was not an exploitation film - the full-frontal nude scenes are seen at a distance, artfully blurred when necessary. The few close-ups of naked breasts are very much relevant in the context of his progression into voyeurism.

    The film suffers mostly in its characterizations, which are fairly shallow for a psychological drama. The lack of a climax was somewhat disappointing, though it's clear that his excursion into voyeurism will remain a factor in his life after the movie ends.
  • comment
    • Author: Murn
    This very shallow study of voyeurism, gets progressively more tiresome with each passing minute. Extreme closeups of blurred images permeate the film. There is zero character development, and very little dialog. A news reporter doing a story on the surveillance industry becomes addicted to spying on sexy females. Unfortunately that is the entire movie, with his need for through the lens gratification steadily increasing, along with the viewer's boredom. "Sex Through a Window" plays more like an invasion of privacy documentary than a feature film, and unfortunately it's entertainment value is never fully developed. - MERK
  • Credited cast:
    Jim McMullan Jim McMullan - John Norman (as James McMullan)
    Katherine Woodville Katherine Woodville - Sally Norman
    James A. Watson Jr. James A. Watson Jr. - Cameraman
    Bara Byrnes Bara Byrnes - Sylvia Marina
    Al Checco Al Checco - Surveillance Salesman
    Jacqueline Giroux Jacqueline Giroux - Barbie (as Jackie Giroux)
    Curtis Credel Curtis Credel - Reporter
    Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
    Antony Carbone Antony Carbone
    Regis Cordic Regis Cordic
    Cheryl King Cheryl King - Nurse
    Ivan J. Rado Ivan J. Rado
    Michael Santiago Michael Santiago - TV Reporter (as Adolpho Urrutia)
    William Wellman Jr. William Wellman Jr. - Computer Man (as William A. Wellman III)
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